Wednesday, August 15, 2018

A much needed break and gratitude for my tribe

Pushing so hard on my own (mostly) for so long has proven to wear me down and out. But after a two week hike alone in the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire and then a weekend bike ride on the Great Allegeny Passage in PA (and a lot of work and meetings in between) I’ve had plenty of time to rest, recuperate, and get things in order.

My dear friends caught up with me tonight to help me install another board for the pontoons and it proved a very productive evening.  My friend and surrogate family member Carlo had helped me install and lay out the spacing for the pontoons that would make up three rows of double wide barrels a few weeks ago. Tonight I was able to successfully move the jack stands out of the way so the girls and I could place three more boards.

We worked out a great system using the stands as middle support and one person on each end to carry the boards and place them. A bit awkward walking the length of the home underneath it, but other than that it was actually quite simple with the many willing hands. The kids each had a job, Cambyr worked the jack stands like a marina pro and Trey got his hands on the screw gun.

The strategy was to use the jack stand to support the board while we lined it up then raise it to lay flush with the board above it, then secure it with a hurricane strap and move to one end. The jack stand would then be used again to push the board into position until it was secured into place. Rinse and repeat.

It all happened so fast the ladies just sat around talking once the boards were in place. I was so grateful for their willingness to show up and lend a hand...and also grateful it was an easy enough job to not scare them away from future pleas for help!

Thank you again Lori, Mary and Danielle for showing up tonight and Dawn for your desire to be here too! I’m such a lucky gal to have you all! And even though Allison and Patrice weren’t here it was amazing to feel their support of me from the beautiful card they all signed and amazing gift they gave me!

How lucky I am to be part of such an amazing group of women! And they have been so patient with me as I have denied their attempts for getting together over the past year because of all the work on this little place, needing to spend time with my kids and travel I’ve been doing lately...they truly are the best...I am so grateful!

Now to get this thing floating so I can have them over for drinks on the water!!!!

Bottoms up!


Insurance at last!

I haven't given up. I just needed to walk away and take a break. So, I am walking 2,000+ miles from Georgia to Maine on the appalachian ...